A strikingly distinguishable resident of their habitat, dressed in midnight black with long white slashes on each wing, wine-red underparts, and a black chinstrap.
The Eurylaimidae family of birds includes the black-and-red broadbill species (Cymbirhynchus macrorhynchos). The black-and-red broadbill is a big bird with striking plumage that makes it difficult to confuse with any other species found in its region. The typical adult is between 21 and 24 cm (8.3 and 9.4 in) long, with wings that are 9.7 to 10.8 cm (3.8 and 4.3 in) long, and weighs between 51 and 65 g (1.8 and 2.3 oz). Adults have greenish-black upperparts, blackheads and breastbands, a maroon half-collar, and brilliant maroon rumps and uppertail coverts. The closed wing’s white line is formed by the scapulars’ all-white borders. A thin orange line runs along the wing’s curve. Black with varying degrees of white make up the tail.
With a vivid turquoise-blue maxilla and a yellow-orange mandible that has a blue tip and borders, the bill is dichromatic. Bright emerald green irises are present.
With sooty brown upperparts, maroon patches on the rump and uppertail coverts, brown underparts, and brown wings, juveniles have considerably duller plumage.
They also have golden irises and bills that range from black to brownish blue.
Borneo, Myanmar, southern Thailand, southern Laos, southern Vietnam, peninsular Malaysia, and Sumatra in Indonesia are among the locations where black and red broadbills may be found.
These birds may be found in tropical and subtropical mangrove forests as well as wet lowland woods, always close to water.
These birds mostly consume insects, although they also eat tiny fish, mollusks, and crabs.
Broadbills with black and red feathers breed from March to June. The nest, a large, disorganised ball dangling from the end of a dead branch or stick 1-2 metres above the water’s surface, is constructed by both sexes. The female releases two to three eggs, which are then nurtured for 21 days by both parents. Both parents feed the chicks up until 17 days after hatching, when fledging occurs.
Over its extremely wide breeding area, this species is said to range from uncommon to regionally frequent. Despite this, the IUCN still rates it as being of Least Concern.
Watch this bird in the video below right now: